I really like Senator Tim Kaine (D. VA). I wasn't impressed with him as DNC Chairman during the 2010 midterms but grant it, 2010 was just a lousy year for Democrats. However, my relatives in Virginia loved him when he was Governor and I think he is a great upgrade from Senator Jim Webb (D. VA). I was also proud to support him in 2012 in his run against George "Macca Goldstein" Allen (R. VA). But what I really like about Kaine is he truly understands how important Latino outreach is and he's going to be a big hand for Terry McAuliffe's (D. VA) campaign:
http://www.politico.com/...
Sen. Tim Kaine stars in a new Spanish-language ad for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe in one of two new spots going up on Monday as part of an ad buy.
“Terry McAuliffe has always supported the well-being of the Hispanic community,” Kaine (D-Va.) says in one ad. “Terry wants innovation in science and math instruction in our schools. And he, like me, supports the DREAM Act with his entire soul. Now, we need your vote to elect Terry Governor of Virginia.”
The ad, first viewed by POLITICO, will air on Univision and cable in the Richmond and Washington, D.C. markets as a joint effort from the McAuliffe campaign and People for the American Way. - Politico, 11/20/13
People for the American Way will also be airing their own spanish speaking ad bashing Ken Cuccinelli (R. VA) over job security and unemployment benefits. This is great news that the McAuliffe campaign is stepping up their efforts to get Latino voters out to the polls and Kaine is the right man for the job. Just take a look at his speech above where he argued in favor of immigration reform in Spanish. Even before then, Kaine was never shy in showing off how fluent he was in Spanish. Here's then Governor Kaine endorsing then Senator Barack Obama (D. IL) in the 2008 election:
Kaine also knew that Virginia's growing Latino community were key to beating Allen in 2012. Kaine did Spanish speaking campaign ads during his bid for the U.S. Senate:
http://thehill.com/...
Kaine, in impeccable Spanish, touts his time spent as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, where he "learned more about faith and family," as pictures of a bearded young Kaine scroll by. He then says as governor he worked with the Hispanic community to expand preschool education programs and promises as senator to increase education funding and fight for immigration reform. - The Hill, 8/24/12
So you can see why I'm excited about Kaine helping out with McAuliffe with Latino voter GOTV efforts. Latinos have a lot at stake in this election, especially with Cuccinelli's anti-immigration views:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Virginia attorney general and GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli told Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in 2012 that he was a huge fan, and now it turns out that the two share a knack for drawing controversial comparisons when it comes to immigration policy.
Cuccinelli made his strange remark during a radio interview in 2012. Speaking on the conservative radio show "The Morning Majority," the attorney general launched into a critique of Washington, D.C.'s pest control policies, which he claimed protected rats from being killed.
"They have to relocate the rats. And, not only that, that’s actually not the worst part, they cannot break up the families of the rats!" Cuccinelli said, incorrectly suggesting that the District’s 2010 Wildlife Protection Act forced pest control specialists to dump them across the river in Virginia.
Cuccinelli then made his comparison.
"So, anyway, it is worse than our immigration policy," he said. "You can't break up rat families. Or raccoons, and all the rest, and you can't even kill 'em. It's unbelievable." - Huffington Post, 7/26/13
And Cuccinelli's anti-immigration agenda goes back even before he was Attorney General:
http://www.motherjones.com/...
As a member of the Virginia Senate, GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli used his email newsletter to tout his role in founding State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), a group dedicated to cutting off economic, education, and employment opportunities to undocumented immigrants. Cuccinelli, who is now the state's attorney general, has softened his views in recent months to appeal to a broader audience as he runs for governor. But as a potential swing-state governor, his past statements clash with the Republican National Committee's post-election autopsy stressing the importance of immigration reform for the future of the party.
SLLI was launched in 2007 by Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican. The group aligned itself with anti-immigration hardliners in an effort to convince the Supreme Court to use the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship—a position Cuccinelli endorsed in a Senate resolution urging Congress to take action against what he called "anchor babies." According to its mission statement, the group also aims "to provide a network of state legislators who are committed to working together in demanding full cooperation among our federal, state and local governments in eliminating all economic attractions and incentives (including, but not limited to: public benefits, welfare, education and employment opportunities) for illegal aliens, as well as securing our borders against unlawful invasion."
In May 2007, Cuccinelli endorsed SLLI in his newsletter, the Cuccinelli Compass, writing, "I was one of the founding members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration." He spelled out a version of the group's mission statement, expressing the importance of eliminating incentives that "continue to lure illegal aliens across the border," and wrote that he supported sending "illegal aliens back to their home country." He also wrote, "You can count on me to remain vigilant on this issue!" Cuccinelli sent out the newsletter days after stating in an SLLI press release that "[p]orous borders and lax immigration enforcement have left us vulnerable not only to terrorist attacks but to increasing levels of crime in our communities," specifically those who "traffic their deadly cocktail of drugs and gang violence into Virginia." - Mother Jones, 8/19/13
Now Cuccinelli has been downplaying his anti-immigration stance on the campaign trail but he's not really fooling anyone:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/...
When Sen. Marco Rubio joins Ken Cuccinelli II at a Richmond fundraiser Monday, the duo together will embody the two sides of one of the GOP’s chief challenges — immigration reform — as the party tries to win back purple states where Barack Obama stitched together a coalition of minorities and women in back-to-back national elections.
Rubio is one in a succession of GOP stars coming to Virginia to help Cuccinelli energize his campaign for governor against Democrat Terry McAuliffe. But Rubio’s visit does something else, too: It brings attention to the polar-opposite ways in which the two Republicans have struggled over the question of what do to about the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.
Rubio (R-Fla.) helped author a comprehensive Senate plan that includes provisions to give undocumented immigrants a chance at citizenship, a high-risk effort that polls indicate has eroded his support among the GOP base.
Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general, championed hard-line immigration policies while rising through the state ranks — but he has awkwardly sought to play down his record in hopes of not alienating Hispanics and Asians who represent a small but growing part of Virginia’s electorate.
Republican leaders have conceded that presidential nominee Mitt Romney damaged his candidacy last fall by promoting “self-deportation,” and some have pushed the party to embrace more liberal policies to woo Hispanics and move the issue off the agenda in future elections.
Cuccinelli isn’t quite doing that, but his appearance with Rubio at the tickets-only fundraiser suggests that he is trying to soften perceptions about his stand on immigration. - Washington Post, 9/15/13
The election is Tuesday, November 5th. If you would like to help the McAuliffe campaign get our base out to the polls, you can click here to get involved:
http://terrymcauliffe.com/